Beyond Knitting
A Visit with Your Pink Plastic Friend
I have to admit a little tear escaped my eye as I left the Barbie exhibit at the Design Museum in London. Because I share Ann and Kay’s Barbie fandom, I knew I wanted to write an article for MDK about the exhibit.
I arrived with my correspondent’s hat on. Imagine Barbie’s friend Midge in her smart cat-eye glasses with a teeny notepad and pen. I left the museum completely overwhelmed by memories of my own childhood and how Barbie was my true-blue bendy plastic friend through the ups and downs of growing up.
The thing is I was really surprised when I grew taller, rounder, “blossomed,” felt my toes pushing into the ends of my beloved Stride Rite shoes, and couldn’t breathe in my favorite dresses.
I just could not believe that “growing up” was supposed to happen to people—especially me—despite the existence of all of the grown-ups around me. I wore my stretchy ballet tutu from Kindergarten for something like five years until the elastic simply had no more give.
And because I had a younger sister, I could look at this other person who was always a little shorter (not now, though!) and a little smaller than me and think, why? Why do I have to “grow up?”
Then, in her wisdom, my well-meaning aunt sent me her vintage 1975 “Growing Up Skipper Doll.” The Barbie exhibit curators write: “The doll’s torso contains a mechanism, activated by rotating her arm, which causes her to grow taller and develop breasts. This simplified version of puberty offered children a reassuring take on the prospect of ‘growing up.’”
Reassuring? Really? I was horrified.
But luckily, my aunt also sent me a 1977 Superstar Barbie in a satiny pink evening dress, a 1968 Twist ’n ‘Turn Stacey Doll with feathery eyelashes and blue eye shadow (like my grandmother wore), and her BFF Twist ’n Turn Barbie in a mod outfit. I LOVED them all and they were all there in perspex cases in the museum like my very own welcoming party.
Ah, clothes. Hair. Something shifted with the gift of these vintage dolls. I got out Barbie’s teensy-weensy comb and opened up my own bedroom hair salon.
Then my aunt sent me a secondhand Swinging Sixties London Carnaby Street dollhouse and a three story dream house with a yellow plastic elevator – all in the museum, too!
Suddenly, Barbie had a place to sleep and dream. Though, in our house, she had to contend with a motley crew of guests like He-Man, She-ra, Strawberry Shortcake, and several Wishnik trolls.
When I graduated from threading yarn through pre-punched Holly Hobbie cards to an actual needle, thread, and fabric, Barbie was the first recipient of my earnest, but doomed attempts to turn handkerchiefs into glamorous ballet dresses and evening gowns. He-Man and She-Ra sat on the sidelines sighing with relief that they had plastic molded permanent clothes. How I wish I’d had the sewable Barbie clothes when I saw them in the museum.
So, why did that tear escape when I left the exhibition? I suppose leaving Barbie’s pink palace was like leaving my own memory palace where so many of my little plastic friends were continuing to zoom around in convertibles and lounge about on mod furniture without me.
A little later in the day, I realized why I was so moved by my hour or so in Barbie-land.
Together, Barbie and I, with cameo appearances by my sister, friends, and other dolls, enjoyed countless free hours of imaginative childhood play.
Worlds were built, stories invented, props fashioned, disagreements flared and were settled. My childhood sewing, making, knitting, and cooking centered around Barbie.
As the curators write: “Play is powerful. It’s how children learn to navigate the world—to connect with others, to understand society, and to develop their own creative self-expression.”
A lot of the time, it was just Barbie and me, lost in our thoughts, quiet, working things out—like accepting that my Stride Rite shoes just weren’t going to fit anymore. It isn’t that different than the way my brain and heart work things out now when I’m knitting.
“Since she was launched in 1959, Barbie has been through numerous incarnations including more than 260 careers and a wardrobe reflecting six decades of fashion.” It’s true, Barbie’s been president; she’s actually been to space; Oscar de la Renta designs her dresses; and she remains a controversial doll.
But what’s perhaps most important is that for many of us, she was a little friend we could carry in our backpacks who was ready to listen, play, and make up a story with us anytime, anywhere.
Barbie: The Exhibition is on at the Design Museum in London until February 23, 2025.
P.S. This guy was in the exhibit, too. I think they call him Ken?
Great post. Thank you.
Barbie was the inspiration for hundreds of hand knit outfits designed and knit by Barbara G Walker. Barbara and her husband retired to Florida. Her wonderful collection of Barbie dolls (and similar dolls) found two different homes – one is my home. Barbara is now in her 90’s. She uses her Walker’s walker to assist her mobility. Barbara is the author of numerous knitting books including her famous Treasuries, books on rocks and minerals, and women’s issues. She is a world treasure.
I love Barbara’s Treasuries. I use them often for design inspiration. I had no idea she also wrote other books, I will definitely have to look them up. I wish I could meet her. Her work lives on every time someone uses it to create their own projects.
Hi Myrna! I met you at Madrona Fiber Arts Festival; thank you for your beautiful lace book, which I shared with my local guild.
I’m glad that you’re the keeper of some of Barbara Walker’s Barbies. You understand the historical treasure value! I love my Barbara Walker charted stitch treasury, which is another treasure to me.
Cheers,
Michele Bernstein
Buying my own set of Barbara Walker treasuries back in the early 2000s was a huge step of commitment to knitting for me; I cherish them. I also inherited the late designer Belinda Boaden’s copies, full of bookmarks and notes. Give Barbara my best!
That is just so cool, Kay!
Oh, my goodness! Thank you for telling us about Barbara Walker. What a remarkable person. Also, I would love to knit for my Barbies. I don’t know why I haven’t yet. Thank you for giving me the encouragement. Lots of smiles to you!
I didn’t have Barbies but my best friend and I were both horse crazy. We had Bryer horses. Barbie’s legs didn’t bend, and she was the wrong scale, but the Betsy McCall doll was the right scale and had bendy knees. I taught myself increases and decreases from the Coates and Clark Learn to Knit book so I could knit Betsy a pair of jodphurs. Breyer horses have almost as many accessories as Barbie.
I love knowing about Bryer horses now! I just looked them up. I think it’s so cool that you looked around for a doll that would fit your favorite horses AND you knit things for Betsy!
Thank you for sharing this, I never knew Barbara Walker had Barbies and made clothes for them amongst all her other accomplishments.
I never played with dolls as a kid but I had the entire Barbie family because my mom loved dolls. I sold my 1960 Barbie on eBay and bought myself a diamond and emerald tennis bracelet with the proceeds, so I thank you, Barbie!
Good win for you and for the Barbie collector!
I still have my Midge doll, wearing the suit my mother knitted her from sock yarn.
I LOVE Midge so much!!
I really love it that Barbie has been a “pink plastic friend” to so many people through so many years. I was a child in the 60’s and even had a Barbie Birthday Party one year. I also love that she has kept up with the times. She could do anything!
I totally agree. The sky is the limit for Barbie. She has so much ahead of her!
I was past the Barbie stage by the time she arrived on the scene (that’ll date me) but I always loved her clothes. That pink satin ball gown could be worn today (and is universally flattering, I might add, whatever the body shape) as could her black and white bathing suit.
I feel so lucky to have been given Barbie with her pink satin ball gown. It may be a bit faded now, but it still catches the light!
I was just thinking yesterday I should go to the back closet and pull my Barbie and friends out and see how they are fairing in our old age!
This article was amazing! I have the same feelings about Barbie and friends! I love listening and sometimes participating in my granddaughter’s Barbie/imaginative play. “The game with no rules “ is what I call it because I am always being told, “No, remember you’re the big sister’ or some other admonishment!
I hope she will have fond memories of our Barbie explosions!
I love this. There were so many children (mostly girls) at the exhibit. Three of them in blue fairy costumes kept going around simply saying with glee, “I love Barbie. I love Barbie.”
I didn’t get a Barbie because my older sister had one, and who ever heard of more of the same doll? So I got Midge. I always felt short changed by that. My daughter, however, acquired several, along with many clothes and accessories. She had no sister to share them with, either.
I was an eldest daughter but for some reason I was given Midge instead of Barbie. I think it might have been early enough in the Barbie lifespan that my doting great-aunts couldn’t quite work out that there was a pecking order to the whole Barbie/Midge relationship. Anyway I loved Midge and later acquired more Barbies shared with my little sister, with the newfangled bendiness and sexy outfits.
I was always seriously crazy about Midge’s name. Sometimes, I just wanted my Barbie to be called Midge. But the doll I loved best of all was Barbie’s short-lived friend PJ. She had this beautiful brown hair with streaks.
Hi Kay, would you like a copy of my Knits for Barbie and or the Crochet for Barbie book?
Nicky, I don’t know why I didn’t realized that you have a Barbie knitting book! I’m going to look for that. I love your knitting book for American Girl type dolls.
I completely know what you mean. My younger sister had a few Barbies, but somehow they were my thing. I think that’s why she was the He-man and She-ra maven and had most of the Strawberry Shortcake dolls.
Thank you for this article! Barbies were a big part of my own childhood and I loved seeing the photos of the exhibit as I too had many of the same Barbies as you!
I LOVE that we had bunches of the same dolls!
What a wonderful aunt to send such gifts. She sounds like a treasure as well.
She really was great!
Barbie could be everything and do everything except one thing—get old!
Oh how I miss my Barbie dolls. At 14 years of age, I gave away all my Barbies, the accessories, and all the beautiful clothing that had been made by me, my mother, and a Great Aunt who REALLY knew what a little girl would like. Had I only known. I never had a Dreamhouse or car but my friends and I would create rooms and homes out of whatever we had on hand. Yes – great for the imagination.
I LOVE your memories of how much you loved your Barbies! And how wonderful to have all of those handmade clothes!
Thank you for bringing back some great memories! Not the least were the clothes my mother made for my Barbie doll . . . only to put them away and forget where she hid them! In order to have them for my birthday, she then made them all over again! We found the lost set when I was in high school and had a good laugh over that. So now Barbie has two identical wardrobes. Still a very sweet memory after 57 years!
That is the best story!! I did the same with a bunch of quilt blocks I’d made with my grandmother. So, we just set about making more and then when we found the original ones, I had a quilt twice as big!
Loved this article and likewise it brought back memories of my mother as well as Barbie. Why? My mother was glamorous . . . and smart and she did it all as a kindergarten teacher in her pointy stiletto heels in the 50’s, 60’s, 7o’s! But it also brought back memories of teaching one of my fav university courses, “Clothing and Human Behavior”. I lectured one day about the gal we love to hate! Where is that lecture anyway? For all the misogyny some foist on Barbie, Barbie is multi faceted as we each define her! Would love to see the exhibit and thanks for sharing!
Oooh! I would have loved to have taken your class, Kate. I had a minor in Gender Studies in undergrad and I loved all of the discussions of bodies and perceptions and power we had in classes like “Women, Mysticism, and Authority.”
Loved this article I adored my Bubble Cut Barbie. I got her for Christmas 1963.
My aunt sent me one Bubble Cut Barbie and I was completely fascinated with that hair-do! My grandmother had that hair-do for a long time and I loved it when she asked me if she had a flat spot in the back or not!
I was lucky only a few times to get “authentic” Barbie outfits. The tiny accessories that came (stiletto sandals, brush, handbag) and the book. Remember the little hand drawn book of her latest fashions? Those were coveted and sadly long gone .
Yes, those drawings! The artwork that went into so many brochures before photography became the primary teller of stories.
My regret about Barbie is that she teaches girls to be body conscious to the point of anorexia or at least ashamed of one’s normal body shape, and to embrace fashion as a replacement for real accomplishments. I am not on this bandwagon and would rather see toys and games that encourage young women to be all that they can be, and not be a doll for others to control.
Okay, that being said, I do play Barbie with my 5 and 6 y/o granddaughters because they enjoy them. I have even knit a couple of Barbie dresses for each– and am happy to see that one of the granddaughters wears the dresses herself as fingerless mitts and/or slippers instead! Now that’s the kind of independence and creativity I am proud of! And those are the girls for whose future I am worried if women lose the right to make their own decisions, whatever they may be.
YES! Gardenpoet, thank you for expressing my thoughts exactly. I was a little too old for Barbie, and I was relieved that no well-meaning relative gave me one. Back then I disliked it because it didn’t seem to reflect how I looked (I preferred “Ginny” dolls when I was younger). Now, along with your concerns, I would add my fear that Barbie might have been partly responsible for the strange rush by young girls, starting in the 1960’s and 70’s, to wear clothes meant for much older women – and sexy clothes on a six year old never appealed to me.
I did not like Barbie dolls for the same reasons you mention. I am of the generation whose members were a bit too old for Barbie when she appeared. I, too, had and loved a special Ginny doll that was given to me when my second brother appeared on the scene. I had so hoped for a little sister—Ginny was my consolation gift, I think.
I was thrilled when my daughters also loved Ginny. They had my Ginny as well as several newer ones and we sewed and knit clothes for all of them. Barbie was not a part of their lives either.
What a trip down Memory Lane! Great article and photos. My sisters and I each had one Barbie in the 1960s, and our mother and a very talented, older cousin made some of our Barbie clothes. I think I even have a little knitted sweater somewhere. And we made our own doll houses and additional clothes. (OH! sewing cards!!! You really are blowing dust off brain cells.) Those little clothes kits stir a memory of some type of peel and stick make-your-own clothing. One of us had a Skipper and a Midge somewhere along the way.
I have to say that I really didn’t like the later approach to “character” Barbies (i.e., Skater Barbie, Astronaut Barbie, etc.), though I well understand the commercial goal behind creating and selling thematic dolls. Much better, I think, that we used our imaginations to turn our one doll into any number of personas.
The Dressed podcast covered Barbie in depth including the controversial aspects of the doll:
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/barbie-the-fashion-history-of-an-icon-part-i/id1350850605?i=1000622254262
https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/barbie-the-fashion-history-of-an-icon-part-ii/id1350850605?i=1000623010866
https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/barbie-the-fashion-history-of-an-icon-part-iii/id1350850605?i=1000623543887
Lorraine, the peel and stick clothing and the magnetic clothing totally fascinated me! I had several versions of that. I even had some kind of paper doll that had a fuzzy body and her clothes were fuzzy on the underside so they would stick to her. I cut out so many paper dolls. I even remember making a set of original paper dolls for a friend in college. I wonder if she still has them!
Jeni, I love your line “a lot of the time it was just Barbie and me, lost in our thoughts, quiet, working things out.” I spent a great deal of time with Barbie et al. We solved many childhood issues together.
I had an AMAZING Grammy! She taught me to knit as a child….I took a 30-year hiatus, but I am back! Grammy knitted stunning outfits for Babs. I had ballgowns, two-piece suits, and was especially in love with the tiny, tiny buttons sewn onto the knitted clothing. (These concealed snaps because no working a buttonhole that small!) Do I have a white, mohair-looking gown with a sequin star sequin framed on my bedroom wall made by my grandmother? You betcha! Thanks for bringing some lovely memories to the surface!
Oh, Sharon, I love these memories of your Grammy!! yes, Barbie and I had so many talks. I just could not have figured out things without that quiet time. I love what you say about the teeny tiny buttons! YES!
Thank you Jeni, for the review of the Barbie exhibit. It sounds like a great trip down memory lane.
I had my first Barbie, who got traded in for the modern Twist ‘n’ Turn Barbie with straight blonde hair and bendable arms and legs. My sister and I played Barbie for countless hours. My aunt knit all sorts of clothing for them; the skater’s outfit was my favorite, red with white angora trim. So many memories!
Michele, the skater outfit!! yes!! I was fascinated by the bendable arms and legs. It was so frustrating to try to put a shirt on the Barbies that had stiff bent arms! A lot of laughter and going to Mom for help.
I do not and never have liked Barbie Dolls.I am of the generation whose members were a bit too old for Barbie when she appeared. Younger cousins did, however. I believe that Barbie dolls promote unreal bodies that girls believe are an ideal they should strive for. That is not a healthy belief. Why don’t we teach girls that people come in all sorts of shapes and sizes and no one model is better than another.
I did have a “Ginny” that I loved. She was given to me when my second brother appeared on the scene. I had so hoped for a little sister—Ginny was my consolation gift, I think.
I was pleased when my daughters also preferred Ginny. They had my Ginny as well as several newer Ginnies. We sewed and knit clothes for them and had fun doing it. Barbie was not a part of their lives. Both grew up to be beautiful women who do not criticize or poke fun at people for their size or shape.
Marvelous memories! Many of my own, too. Thank you for sharing and letting me look back with you.
I loved Barbie! Because I am Barbara, my grandmother bought me one (of many!) as soon as they came out. She made me the most beautiful clothes for Barbie.
I grew up with the original 1960’s Barbie -zebra striped bathing suit, heels, Ken, Midge, Kim, etc. Gougeous ckothes my Dad bought at Spag’s in Shrewsbury, Massachuetts (a wonderful store!) Instead of selling my Barbie colection forgobs of cash I gave them to one of my friend for her little girl in a cool train case from the 1940s. My cohorts thought I should have sold them. I’d rather someone else could make more memories. I hope they are passed along again. 🙂
I LOVE that you passed your Barbie dolls on in a train case. Just the best. I am so grateful I received my Barbies as gifts and I know you made another little girl so happy!
I hand sewed endless outfits for my Barbies as a girl. I used to save the labels from Wright’s trims to send in for a free pack of trim remnants to dress up Barbie’s clothes. I have never knit or crocheted anything for Barbie, though. I even taught myself how to French braid on Barbie. Looking back, I have no clue how I managed a French braid on such a tiny head. Cabbage Patch hair didn’t work that well for French braid because it showed the bald spots, lol. Also: my mom has the vintage Barbie with that same black and white bathing suit and a couple other vintage outfits.
Yes, I totally agree about the french braids! I can’t think how I learned on such a tiny head. But I would not have mastered them without Barbie. I loved that you sent away for remnants!
Loved this! Thank you. You’ve awakened many nice memories. Both from my childhood and my working life. I worked at Mattel for a number of years and Barbie was always a favorite. My desk was festooned with many Barbies with their hand knit ponchos, hats, sweaters, etc. They were much admired.
I am so excited and speechless that you once worked for Mattel. I would have loved to have seen your desk!
So excited! I’ll be in London next month and I am DEFINITELY going to see this. My Barbie actually had real mink stoles. My great-uncle was a furrier in New York and the fur samples were mink tails. He realized that they were perfect for Barbie and sent me a couple! Such glamour.
That is wild about your real mink stoles for Barbie! Don’t forget to look up to see the Barbie hair chandelier! I’m so glad you’re going to be able to go!
Wow your Aunt should get a medal or something! Thank you for a trip down your memory lane. I’m jealous of the Barbie houses, I’m not going to lie.
My big Barbie dream house was decimated by the movers on one of our family’s many moves. BUT, I still have the Carnaby street one right by my bed at Mom’s house!
Does anyone remember Sindy and Tressy? I had those way before I had Barbie, granted i am a tad older!
I bought a Sindy doll over here in England at a car boot fair and I completely love her. I love how round her face is. She came with pink plaid trousers!
I am very late to this party, but I felt compelled to comment anyway. Love all the Barbie content, of course! But I also love your story about how you were outraged that you had to grow up. I love it because I follow your Instagram and see all of your wonderful makes–dolls and bears and accessories for them and so much more. So it’s proof that we never really grow up in some ways. And that is an excellent thing.